The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris

An author event with PETER BEINART -- Senior Political Writer for The Daily Beast // Associate Professor of Journalism and Political Science, City Univ. of New York // Senior Fellow, New America Foundation

hu·bris (hyu'bris) n. Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance

In The Icarus Syndrome, Peter Beinart tells a tale as old as the Greeks -- a story about the seductions of success. Beinart describes Washington on the eve of three wars -- World War One, Vietnam, and Iraq -- three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that history was over, and the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought untold tragedy.